Mildly entertaining, never exciting, Old Filth by Jane Gardam (Abacus, London, 2004, 260 pages) delivers the partial biography of a fictional international lawyer and judge.
Sir Edward Feathers, the protagonist, bears the nickname Old Filth, arising from the famous acronym Failed in London, Tried Hong Kong. Born under tragic circumstances in what is now Malaysia, Eddy ventured to England for education, found courtroom success in Hong Kong and then retired with his wife Betty to Dorset.
The book revolves around Eddy’s reaction to Betty’s death and his battle to cope, primarily with a flood of memories, many unpleasant. Gardam routinely switches from the geriatric Eddy to a youthful one. Neither qualifies as highly interesting.
Plowing to the end takes a determined reader. Even a murderous secret revealed in the final pages fails to pump much adrenalin.
Touted as a Daily Mail Book Club selection and a contender for the 2005 Orange Prize, Old Filth appears to be highly overrated.
A prize-winning author of such books as Queen of the Tambourine, The Hollow Land, God on the Rocks, Faith Fox and The Flight of the Maidens, Gardam presumably has done much better in the past.
Approval rating: 39 per cent.
For more information: www.twbg.co.uk.
(January 8, 2007)
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